Dearly Beloved
by Hraap
Summary: It starts with the rings.


_**Dearly Beloved**_

It starts with the rings.

In hindsight, Reborn should have known jewelry would be the one thing his charge would fixate on. The Vongola dons are known for displaying their power - some choose subtle ways, others more blatant shows. Xanxus oozes power and authority, and ensures those who serve him do the same. Timoteo chooses deception, cleaving to the idea that older means wiser, and wiser means not tipping your hand until you're ready to lay it all out.

For Tsuna, it's less a show of power, and more a show of possession. That he is possessed by those around him, and possess them in turn. A show of honest trust, if Reborn were to break it down to its simplest form.

It starts with the rings on his fingers. The Vongola Ring, glistening like a beacon beneath the light at balls. A show that he is the heir and legacy. Naturally, such a show draws women to him like flies to honey. Reborn watches in amusement as his student is swamped, and yet manages to escape the flock of women, leaving them charmed at the end of the night - clearly he's taken Reborn's lessons in dealing with the fairer sex to heart. He snickers in amusement when he sees Tsuna dart around a corner, and finally let out the breath he's been holding, wiping his brow.

"How is he doing?" Timoteo asks, coming up behind him. "Still alive?"

"Nobody's declared war yet, so I'd call it a rousing success."

The Vongola Ring is meant to signal to all the power the heir holds, that the giant that is this mafia family still lives on. But Tsuna isn't the type to be satisfied with that kind of stuff, so of course it becomes a different sort of signal when he decorates his remaining fingers with simple silver rings, each holding a single gemstone of color at its heart. The orange gem of Vongola, blanketed and surrounded on all sides by his Elements.

 _A show of unity._

Reborn sees it immediately, recognizes it immediately, and starts scouting the room to see who is thrown by the display, and who isn't. Members of Vongola look satisfied - calmed, even, by it. As if witnessing their baby leader drape himself in the colors of others has soothed some itch they haven't had scratched in forever.

But then a second crimson gemstone joins the set, this time on the left hand. Crimson sits in the center, and then the colors go around it. The Varia, a sign that they are trusted, beloved, and wanted just as much as Tsuna's own Guardians.

Xanxus sees that, and his face goes a little funny. It's like he can't decide whether to be outraged that he's claimed, upset that he wasn't consulted for this, flattered that he's finally getting shown off, or embarrassed that Tsunayoshi apparently has no shame in telling the world just how very trusted he and his men are. There's something to be said about subtlety, but Tsuna's drop-kicked it out the window and killed logic in its bed.

But the next time Xanxus and Tsuna interact, there's something almost… gentle, about the way Xanxus snarls at his next leader, and the fireballs he throws are off just enough to leave warning blasts of heat beside his ear, rather than scorch marks. He doesn't lose his edge, and neither do the Varia, but it's clear to those that matter that Tsuna's move was the correct one.

After that, it's a gilded silver choker heavy with orange gemstones, each meant to represent an ally. Dino stutters more when he sees it, Enma turns a particular shade of red that no human should ever be able to reach, while Uni just laughs, bright and delighted, and reaches out to kiss Tsuna on both cheeks. Aria looks like she's been caught a little flat-footed, but she relaxes once Uni cuddles Tsuna to her. Byakuran grins, quick and sharp like a fox, his eyes gleaming as he reaches out and touches the choker.

"My, my Tsunayoshi-kun, you keep this up and people will begin to think you're a hedonist of some sort."

Tsuna's answering smile is enough to send shivers down Reborn's spine, because their heart is looking like that's a _good_ thing.

Reborn knows what comes after that, though he refuses to talk about it after it happens. The pierced ears make something in his heart squeeze down, and his legs feel like jelly. It almost makes his Flames go a little spooky, at least according to Mammon, who is the only witness to his very-near public claiming of the young heir the day it happens.

"You should have expected it," Mammon says, but who the fuck expects Tsuna to get his ears pierced in such a way? The cuff sits on the back of his ear, curving up, beginning with a golden jewelry and working its way through. It's a rainbow, meant to represent _him_ and the Arcobaleno, that they too are now cherished and wanted and allowed to want in turn.

It's been too long since Reborn has been given permission to want. It destroys him every time he looks at Tsuna now, hones his Flame and Will to a lethal edge that he's touched upon now and again, but never remained on for long. Tsuna asks nothing of him, simply smiles and tells him, "On your mark." As if he's supposed to be comforted by the fact that Tsuna is letting him make all the moves.

The final piece of the puzzle comes in the form of the Vongola gear. He takes it in to Shoichi and Spanner, has them do something to it, and at the next Vongola bash Reborn takes one look at it and locks himself in his bedroom for the next two hours, because there is no way he's going to be able to get through tonight without wanting to fuck Tsuna against every available surface after seeing _that._

The Vongola Gear, prized for its power and lethality, has been made to resemble a garter belt. It's a very short, simple statement that, combined with the jewelry he's still clad in, sends a message out that if anyone attacks the Vongola, Tsuna is going to _break them._

He wants to be ashamed of his reaction, because Tsuna certainly has no shame. But if the amount of slamming doors he hears that night is any indication, he isn't the only one affected by Tsuna's clothing choice. Or by his choices in general. Reborn's known since forever that Tsuna's cherished his people above all else, even the family itself. But this is putting a finely sharpened edge to a knife that was already dangerous, and it makes everything in Reborn shiver with delight.

The garterbelt becomes a regular thing. Some get used to it, but some, like himself, Xanxus and Smoking Bomb, always end up a little wound up when they see it. God forbid anyone ever put Tsuna in a dress, because that would probably be the end of their patience.

As it is, Tsuna continues to charm people left right and center, bedeck himself with jewelry, get spoke of in hushed whispers about how much of a hedonist he must be, to glitter so frivolously like that all the time, and give exactly no fucks about any of it at all. He has his people, and his people are safe. He is satisfied.

Reborn, meanwhile, continues to wonder which broken god under the stars decided to put the idea of jewelry into Tsuna's head. The one time he asks Giotto, the man just laughs, and keeps laughing.

It's probably a Vongola thing, he thinks bitterly as he listens to Tsuna give reports, and does his damndest to ignore the way Tsuna shifts his legs every so often. Then again, Timoteo's been laughing at him since this whole thing started, so maybe it's just a Tsuna thing.

Tsuna turns to look at him, smiling warmly. "What do you suggest?" he asks, the the ear cuffs glitter in the light, a reminder.

He sighs. No, this is definitely just a Tsuna thing.


End file.
